A man was dramatically rescued on Saturday night after spending 11 days under the rubble of a hotel in Port-au-Prince, hours after the Haitian government declared search and rescue operations over.
The survival of 22-year-old Wismond Exantus Jean-Pierre was hailed as “more than a miracle” by international emergency teams who had been at the point of leaving Port-au-Prince.
Rescue workers were alerted after Jean-Pierre’s brother, Jean Elie, heard tapping from the ruins of the Hotel Napoli Inn where he had been searching for him. Rescuers said he was fine but thirsty. Jean-Pierre had been working as a cashier at the hotel when the earthquake struck.
“Today is the first time we communicated with him,” Jean Elie said. “He asked for us to save him. God has been keeping him alive.”
Word of the discovery was spread by Karl Jean-Jeune, a 23-year-old local working for Greek television, using Twitter. Jean Elie said he was disappointed by the decision of the government to disband the rescue operations, saying they should continue.
The “heartbreaking” decision to call off rescue operations was taken a day after a young man and an elderly woman were pulled out alive after 10 days buried in debris. “Hope is vanishing now, though we could still have miracles,” said Elisabeth Byrs, spokesperson for the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.
The announcement came as the official death toll from the 12 January quake climbed to at least 120 000, a figure that will continue to rise.
A large crowd gathered in front of the ruins of Notre Dame de l’Assomption cathedral on Saturday for the funeral of the Roman Catholic archbishop, Joseph Serge Miot, who died in the 7-magnitude quake. His body will be transferred to a new cathedral when it is built, said church officials.
With voices from under the rubble falling silent, some rescue teams had packed up and left even before the official end of rescue operations.
Teams head home
The SA rescue team arrived back safely on Saturday morning.
Tears were shed as the plane landed shortly after 10am at the Waterkloof Airbase in Pretoria.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka was also on hand to welcome the team of about 40 South Africans.
Johannesburg Emergency Management Services members had boerewors and braaied meat ready for their colleagues.
British teams with sniffer dogs were expected to arrive back at Gatwick airport on Saturday night after pulling three survivors from rubble, including a toddler called Mia.
“We should all be proud of the brave British firefighters who worked tirelessly to help the Haitians, in difficult and dangerous conditions,” said Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary. “I would like to thank them on behalf of the UK government.”
Speaking from Geneva, Byrs said the Haitian government’s announcement did not mean that all rescue teams would immediately cease working. “In cases where there is the slightest sign of life, they will act,” she explained.
Some critics have complained that rescue efforts diverted resources that could have saved more lives if they had been used to treat Haiti’s estimated 250 000 injured. But Fernando Alvarez Bravo, a representative for rescue crews, said such efforts gave the rest of the population the assurance they had not been abandoned. About 130 people were pulled alive from collapsed buildings by international teams, including two on Friday. An 84-year-old woman, dehydrated, injured and almost skeletal, was found in her home.
‘I felt the house dancing’
Emmanuel Boso (21) emerged in better shape after an Israeli team extracted him from the ruins of his home. Speaking from a hospital bed, he described stepping out from the shower when the earthquake hit.
“I felt the house dancing around me,” he told AP. “I didn’t know if I was up or down.” The student said he passed out in the rubble and dreamed that he could hear his mother crying. He had no food and drank his own urine. “I am here today because God wants it.”
Aftershocks have continued to jolt the city, keeping most people outdoors at night. The US Geological Survey said there was a 3% chance of another 7 magnitude earthquake and a 25% chance of a 6.
An exodus from the capital has gathered pace as people abandon squalid, makeshift camps that have begun reporting diarrhoea and other hygiene-related ailments. According to USAid, up to 200 000 people have packed boats and buses to other towns and rural areas that are dirt poor and lack infrastructure, but are undamaged. The UN estimates that up to one million, a third of the city’s population, could eventually leave.
The government has outlined plans to erect 11 tent cities to accommodate 400 000 people, but the International Organisation for Migration estimates only one-tenth of the 200 000 tents needed have arrived.
“The most important thing is to get people off the streets and give them shelter,” said Marie Laurence Lassègue, the information minister.
President René Préval had dispatched ministers to the worst-affected areas to assess needs and support local officials.
The US military, with 13 000 personnel in Haiti, continued expanding its role and influence. On Friday, it obtained broad authority to control air and sea ports and to secure roads to support relief efforts. The agreement, signed by the US and UN, sought to clarify the division of powers among Haitian police, UN peacekeepers and American troops.
Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former White House aide, said a more effective response would be for the US, Canada and France to welcome more Haitian migrants. – guardian.co.uk